Joy is key - Emor

This past week, I took part as thousands of people from around the world said tehillim for Refael who was in critical condition. The unity got so intense that the Yetzer Hara felt threatened and therefore had to do something drastic. On Monday morning, Refael was tragically taken from us. A simple solution would be to get depressed and shut down but Refael wouldn't want us to do that. Refael always made sure to live his life with joy, even when he spent most of his life in pain. We could deduce from this that, if he was joyous no matter what, therefore we could also be joyous in every situation. The love and outpouring of support that came from this event is so tremendous that, hopefully, we can break the chains of golus and be reunited with him immediately.

In the year 1942, the Lubavitcher Rebbe compiled the Hayom Yom, a book compiled of Chassidic aphorisms for every single day. Today's thought is from the Baal Shemtov which says, “when a person sees or hears something, it's an instruction to conduct him/herself with the intent of serving Hashem.”

The Yetzer Hara has a unique power. Whenever something negative happens, he takes that situation and tries to strangle us with it. His goal is to make us give up but we can't because, for one tangible reason, Refael doesn't want us to. Refael lived his life with simcha so the best way to show the Yetzer Hara that we aren't just surviving but thriving would be to come together and take on the idea of Simcha. Simcha breaks all bounds and we can use it to serve Hashem with more excitement than before. Hopefully, we shouldn't have to use the tragic events to fuel our service of Hashem but be reunited with Refael and all our loved ones very soon.

Moshiach now

Good Shabbos

All the best

( לזכר נשמת רפאל בן משה)